Matt Dunn blew away Middlesex with a steamy six for 26 in the morning before fluent fifties from Josh Blake and Arjun Gill closed the second day of this Second XI Championship fixture at New Malden with Surrey 269 runs ahead.
With two wickets already in his pocket coming into day two, Dunn wreaked havoc with his express pace and prodigious seam movement in his opening spell as the 32-year-old enforced a collapse in Middlesex’s batting.
Dunn cleaned up LK Hollman for 41 in the first over of the morning and had RG White caught behind by Blake for 31 before going through CM Falconer’s gate for seven and rounding up his epic spell by getting TN Walallawita for one.
While Dunn was causing carnage from one end, Conor McKerr (1/17) provided suitable support from the other and bowled a peach of a yorker himself to knock out MK Andersson’s off-stump.
Having resumed on 80 for two, the visitors were 95 for seven in virtually no time. Middlesex’s tail however offered resistance and took them to 184 all out by the time Yousef Majid (2/32) and Tommy Ealham (1/46) got the job done, ensuring Surrey still secured a handy lead of 65 runs.
Surrey openers Ben Geddes and Ryan Patel provided a solid start to the Three Feather’s second innings, taking them to an entertaining and fairly rapid 53 for no loss.
BW Salter found his luck at that point and had Patel strangled down the leg for a 36-ball 33, and 25 runs later, Geddes holed out to slow left-arm of Walallawita for 36.
Two wickets in quick succession threatened to give Middlesex a peak into Surrey’s batting order but skipper Blake and Gill batted that away with their commendable concentration.
The left-right partnership kept Surrey ticking along for the rest of the day and constructed a brilliant 126-run alliance from 255 balls, taking the hosts to 204 for two, leading by 269 runs, by the close.
Both batters were composed and collected in the middle, but time and again, gave a glimpse of the range of shots available to them, particularly against spin.
